TiVo hits Samsung with patent lawsuit

TiVo used its results announcement to say it was suing South Korean electronics giant Samsung over DVR-related patent infringements. TiVo is basing these latest claims on two relatively new patents. TiVo’s CEO Tom Rogers said: “Today’s action should help address one of the questions regarding the value, breadth and applicability of TiVo’s IP portfolio.”

TiVo has had a very successful series of patent protection litigations and has won significant amounts of cash from EchoStar/Dish, AT&T, Motorola, Verizon and Cisco and worth a combined $1.6 billion to TiVo.

However, some of these patents expire in 2018 so the new action against Samsung is seen as something of a test in order to extend this date, and keep the royalty cash coming in.